Unique Statistics:

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Background:

Accurate and realistic data regarding hazardous waste generation is required to make improvements in the effective management of hazardous wastes. Battery and accumulator manufacturing industry is one of the priority industries which was investigated in this study under the project named “Hazardous Waste Management in Compliance with European Union Environmental Regulations in Turkey”. The project investigated a number of different industries for the development of an internet-based system named as “The Hazardous Waste Declaration System” in order to meet the requirements of Turkey for hazardous waste management.

Objective:

In this paper, hazardous waste generation factors were asserted by means of the type and quantity of the hazardous waste originated from the battery and accumulator manufacturing sectors.

Method:

For this purpose, field studies were conducted in an industrial plant operating in the sector, in order to determine all inputs and outputs of the current manufacturing process utilized. Concurrently, hazardous waste generation declarations made by the industries in the years 2009 and 2010 to the Hazardous Waste Declaration System were evaluated and a range of hazardous waste generation factors were created using the possible minimum and maximum quantities for each waste and the results were compared with the data given in the literature.

Results:

This paper presents the waste lists and the hazardous waste generation factors for the battery and accumulator manufacturing sectors.

Conclusion:

It is believed that the study will provide invaluable information for other battery and accumulator manufacturing industries from the point of types and quantities and the management of hazardous wastes generated.

1. INTRODUCTION

One of the most important stages of the management of hazardous wastes is to acquire accurate information on the amounts of different types of hazardous wastes generated. The lack of sufficient data on hazardous waste results in failure in the monitoring and control mechanism. Moreover, the acquired data on hazardous waste quantities enable the industrialists and the decision makers to determine waste prevention and minimization options for the industry. Therefore, in order to constitute the most efficient management system for hazardous wastes in Turkey, the current quality and quantity of the manufactured hazardous wastes should be known. Hazardous waste generation quantities per unit manufacturer (Hazardous Waste Generation Factor, HWGF) for leading industries can be determined by - geographical and sectoral distribution of the types and quantities of hazardous wastes - manufactured in Turkey. The waste generation factors are necessary for waste inventories and can be measured, calculated or estimated in terms of waste generated per worker per year or waste generated per product (production unit) per year [1]. Moreover, waste prevention and minimization actions can be established for the industry by the data obtained from the hazardous waste quantity determined by the number of products or the amount of raw material used.

In the literature, hazardous waste inventory and management studies in different countries have been reported by many researchers. Salihoglu reported earlier that there is no reliable information on hazardous waste generation in Turkey [2]. Hazardous waste generation information is required to ensure appropriate planning, implementation, and monitoring of any waste management system. It was stated that theoretical inventories can be valuable assets in supporting regulating agencies in developing countries for the implementation of hazardous waste management systems [3]. However, in developing countries, administrative managers have some difficulties in getting data directly from the producers. Therefore, there is a need to establish theoretical hazardous waste inventories using the Waste Generation Factors (WGFs) [3]. In another study, waste management complexity, necessity of reliable data, data estimations and influencing factors for waste generation were investigated and possible solutions were put forth [4]. There is a need for a comprehensive study on hazardous waste indicators based on sector-specific features to estimate hazardous waste production rates for different industrial sectors. For this purpose, in the study, sector-specific indicators were tested on three hazardous waste generating sectors namely the petroleum refineries, dry cleaners, and public hospitals in - Haifa Metropolis to develop a method for estimating the amounts of waste [5]. Waste Generation Rates (WGRs) were also investigated by conducting on-site waste sorting and weighing in four on-going construction projects in Shenzhen city of South China. The results showed that WGRs ranged from 3.275 to 8.791 kg/m2 [6]. Another waste methodology was published and tested for estimating the field scale total construction waste generation rate to be used in a generalized construction waste management plan at a city/regional/country level [7]. Hazardous waste generation for Turkish pesticide manufacturing industry was investigated by Babuna et al. [8]. The obtained results showed that the hazardous waste generation values ranged from 10 to 56 kg per tonne of the produced active ingredient used in the relative industry. Medical hazardous waste generation rates were calculated as kg/bed/day, with 132 health-care facilities in Greece [9]. Similarly, the hazardous medical waste generation rates of four large hospitals in Korea were reported that varied from 0.14 to 0.49 kg/bed/day [10]. On the other hand, Eker and Bilgili reported that medical waste generation rates were equal to 2.11±3.83 kg/bed/day in Turkey [11]. Household hazardous waste was characterized to determine the rate of the household hazardous waste generation which was found to be in the range of 6.16 (0.16–31.74, 95% CI) g/person/day [12].

According to values given in the literature, it can be seen that there is a need to describe and calculate HWGF in order to find reliable solutions to problems and efficient management strategies. Therefore, to meet these requirements, the project entitled “Hazardous Waste Management in Compliance with European Union Environmental Regulations in Turkey” was carried out by the support of TUBITAK on behalf of the Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning (MEUP) in Turkey. The long-term goal of this study is to contribute to the management of hazardous wastes in ways that are compatible with hazardous waste regulations of Turkey, developed in accordance with the EU harmonization requirements. This goal will be accomplished by generating fundamental information providing the most efficient and cost-effective hazardous waste management strategies for Turkey. Regulation on Control of Hazardous Waste (RCHW) [13] establishes a framework for hazardous waste management and follows the general rules laid down in the Council Directive on Hazardous Waste. The waste codes in RCHW are fully transposed from European Waste Catalogue [14].

This article involves detailed studies conducted for the determination of types and quantities of the hazardous wastes obtained from battery and accumulator manufacturing industry which is one of the biggest industries in Turkey. Within this scope, for this purpose, field studies were conducted in an industrial plant in order to determine all inputs and outputs of the current manufacturing process utilized. Hazardous wastes generated by the main and sub-manufacturing processes and other activities including the process phases generated and their qualities and quantities were all determined. Through these data, the hazardous waste list and HWGFs based on the data obtained from field studies were determined for the industry. Declarations of the hazardous waste manufacturing quantity made by the organizations for this industry to the Hazardous Waste Declaration System (HWDS) and the data for this industry given in the literature were evaluated and the value range of HWGF was formed by assessing possible minimum and maximum quantities for each waste.

2. METHODOLOGY

As a first step, for the classification of economic activities of waste generators, NACE Rev.2 (Statistical Classification of Economic Activities for European Community) codes were used in HWDS. Depending on the industrial structure in a country or region, the amount and type of hazardous waste may vary. When describing the variations in hazardous waste generation, it is therefore, necessary to consider the economic activities. In the EU, the common classification for economic activity is carried out by means of NACE code (general industrial classification of economic activities within the European Communities). The amounts of hazardous waste generation are therefore associated with NACE codes as much as possible [15].

In this system, every waste generator has the chance to select its own NACE Rev. 2 code from the list integrated into the system. Hence, the waste generators could enter their annual production capacities to the improved system for each NACE Rev.2 code. As a result, all possible expected wastes for each NACE Rev.2 code can be obtained. Thus, the produced wastes can be selected from these lists and the waste amount for that year can be entered by the waste generators.

Consequently, waste generators will be able to classify their wastes easily and, in this way, it will be guaranteed to obtain accurate waste types. For the control of waste amounts declared in the system, it was aimed to develop waste generation factors specifically for Turkey for every waste under each NACE Rev.2 code to be used in HWDS. Waste generation factor showing “waste generation amount for unit production” can enable to control declared waste amounts in the system. Thus, declarations which are expected to increase each year can be monitored and controlled efficiently in terms of waste type and generation amount by the MEUP.

3. FIELD STUDIES

The current study was started by classifying companies according to the procedure given below:

NACE Rev2 economic activity code of the battery and accumulator manufacturing industry is “Class 27.20 - Manufacturing of batteries and accumulators”, sub-class of manufacture of electrical equipment included in the section of the manufacturing industry (C.27) [16].

Field studies were conducted in a plant having a high production capacity. The on-site field studies were carried out at certain periods of time. The manufacturing processes of the plants were examined, and data related to the input and output quantities were taken for the processes examined. The process-based waste generation factors were tried to be calculated according to the information and observations achieved. Starter series batteries are designed and developed for automotive and Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV) in the plant [17] These batteries implement the start-up movement of the engine and provide power to all electric devices within the vehicle. They supply a high current power within a short time frame. For industrial applications [18], stationary and traction batteries with varied physical and internal structure specifications are manufactured in the plant. Stationary batteries are developed for use in a fixed single location. Their design and plate structure maintain current and power for a relatively long time frame.

Traction batteries are another type of industrial batteries, sharing a similar working principle as starter batteries. They are built to provide long-term power to electric vehicles in difficult operating conditions. These high-power batteries also come in Air-Matic Circulation models using tubular positive plates (PzS) featuring a rapid recharge capability.

Studies were conducted for the hazardous wastes in addition to the examination of the processes applied in the plant. The manufacturing data were examined with regard to hazardous wastes. The waste generation values determined were divided into the generation value of that year and “kg waste/ pcs accumulator” unit and, afterwards, waste generation factors were calculated. The list of waste and waste generation factors obtained from field studies was also utilized by the declarations of HWDS for 2010 issued by the plant. However, the plant's declarations of HWDS have not been used directly but have been re-evaluated considering the possibility of coding errors.

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The list of the hazardous wastes and waste generation factors on the process basis was presented in this section for all studies.

Two major waste groups are classified for the battery and accumulator industry as potentially hazardous. These classes are as follows:

Wastes from lead thermal metallurgy” under code no 1004

Batteries and accumulators” under code no 1606

“Slags from primary and secondary production” coded as 100401 and “dross and skimmings from primary and secondary production” coded as 100402 included under “Wastes from lead thermal metallurgy” coded as 1004 are the wastes observed in field studies conducted for manufacturing batteries and accumulators.

“Lead batteries” coded as 160601 included under “Batteries and accumulators” coded as 1606 are also the wastes observed in field studies. “Electrical and Electronic Equipment Wastes” under the code of 1606 are hazardous wastes regardless of their concentration. The lead batteries emerge between the assembly and charging process are not produced properly.

The HWGFs were found by means of reviewing literature, field studies and HWDS. As a result, the obtained list of the process, sub-process and non-process wastes expected from the manufacturing batteries and accumulators and the HWGFs were presented in Table 1. During the determination of the HWGF values, the average values were calculated from declarations of HWDS. The values and the literature values were compared to each other and an average waste generation factor was determined as ‘kg/pcs’. However, since no data could be supplied from any literature or field study or HWDS for some wastes, it was not possible to give the HWGF value. The value declared in the HWDS with the code of 100401 is between 0.36 kg/pcs accu and 0.7 kg/pcs accu. The values found in the field studies were determined to be 0.3 kg/pcs, lower than the battery HWDS values. As seen in Table 1, the hazardous waste generation factor range of the waste coded as 100401 was determined to be between 0.3 and 0.7 kg/pcs accu.

As a consequence of the field studies, the generation factor of waste coded as 100402 was determined as 0.03 kg/pcs accu. It was found as 0,042 kg/pcs accu in HWDS. The hazardous waste generation factor range of 100402 coded waste was selected as 0.03- 0.04 kg/pcs accu as seen in (Table 1).

The waste generation factor of 160601 coded waste was found as 1.68 kg/pcs accu in the field study and 1.3-2.1 kg/pcs accu in HWDS. The number of 1.68 in field studies is in the range of 1.3 to 2.1 in HWDS. The waste generation factor range of the waste coded as 160601 was selected from 1.3to 2.1 kg/pcs accu as seen in (Table 1).

Batteries and accumulators included in 16 06 01.
16 06 02 or 16 06 03 and unsorted batteries and accumulators containing these batteries

200135

Discarded electrical and electronic equipment
other than those mentioned in 20 01 21 and 20 01 23 containing hazardous components

0.000002

CONCLUSION

This paper presents the results obtained from the battery and accumulator manufacturing industry within the scope of the project entitled “Hazardous Waste Management in Compliance with European Union Environmental Regulations in Turkey”. The study aimed to develop efficient control mechanisms for the control of hazardous waste generation. Along with the waste lists determined in the project studies, the HWGF value ranges were determined through literature review for this industry, declarations of HWDS for years of 2009 and 2010. In the manufacturing of battery and accumulator, the code number of 10 and 16 are listed in the process waste category. During the manufacturing process “slags from primary and secondary production” coded as 100401, “dross and skimmings from primary and secondary production” coded as 100402 and “lead batteries” coded as 160601 were detected to be the most important wastes. Discarded chemicals, oil wastes, packaging wastes, oil waste filters, insulation materials, medical wastes and treatment sludges were determined as the non-process wastes observed in field studies. It is believed that the results of this study are significant for the improvement of the hazardous waste management system and it will provide valuable information to the decision makers, especially at the national level. The HWGF values can also be helpful to determine the estimated quantities of hazardous wastes generated by battery and accumulator manufacturing industry by means of manufacturing capacity information of the industry. HWGF values in the process waste category were found to be in the range between 0.03 and 2.1 kg/pcs accu.

CONSENT FOR PUBLICATION

Not applicable.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors declare no conflict of interest, financial or otherwise.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This study was financially supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) under a national project entitled “Hazardous Waste Management in Compliance with the European Union Environmental Regulations in Turkey (107G126)”.

About the Editor

Biography of William Hogland

Prof. Hogland obtain doctor degree (PhD) in Water Resources Engineering at Lund University, Sweden, in 1986. In 1988, Hogland became a research leader for Waste Management and Recovery Division, Lund University. Furthermore, in1997 he became full chair professor and head ofthe Environmental Sceince and Engineering Group at Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden. He has produced more 450 scientific publication and in 2015 he got the Elsevier Atlas Award for “Research for a Better World” and in 2017 the honorable Sweden Impact Award.

Department of Biology and Environmental Science, University of Kalmar, Kalmar, Sweden

Indexing Agencies

Press Release

Join Our Editorial Board

News release date: March 29, 2018

Description:

The Open Waste Management Journal is an Open Access online journal, which publishes research articles, reviews, letters, case reports and guest-edited single topic issues in all areas of industrial waste management and waste technology research. Bentham Open ensures speedy peer review process and accepted papers are published within 2 weeks of final acceptance.

The Open Waste Management Journal is committed to ensuring high quality of research published. We believe that a dedicated and committed team of editors and reviewers make it possible to ensure the quality of the research papers. The overall standing of a journal is in a way, reflective of the quality of its Editor(s) and Editorial Board and its members.

The Open Waste Management Journal is seeking energetic and qualified researchers to join its editorial board team as Editorial Board Members or reviewers.

The essential criteria to become Editorial Board Members of The Open Waste Management Journal are as follows:

Experience in industrial waste management and waste technology research with an academic degree.

At least 20 publication records of articles and /or books related to the field of industrial waste management and waste technology research or in a specific research field.

Proficiency in English language.

The Roles of Editorial Board Member are to:

Offer advice on journals’ policy and scope.

Submit or solicit at least one article for the journal annually.

Contribute and/or solicit Guest Edited thematic issues to the journal in a hot area (at least one thematic issue every two years).

Peer-review of articles for the journal, which are in the area of expertise (2 to 3 times per year).

If you are interested in becoming our Editorial Board member, please submit the following information to info@benthamopen.com. We will respond to your inquiry shortly.

Email subject: Editorial Board Member Application

Your name

Email address

Telephone

City, State, Country

Name of your institution

Department or Division

Website of institution

Your title or position

Your highest degree

Complete list of publications and h-index

Interested field(s)

Testimonials

"Open access will revolutionize 21st century knowledge work and accelerate the diffusion of ideas and evidence that support just in time learning and the evolution of thinking in a number of disciplines."

. —Daniel Pesut. (Indiana University School of Nursing, USA).

"It is important that students and researchers from all over the world can have easy access to relevant, high-standard and timely scientific information. This is exactly what Open Access Journals provide and this is the reason why I support this endeavor."

"Publishing research articles is the key for future scientific progress. Open Access publishing is therefore of utmost importance for wider dissemination of information, and will help serving the best interest of the scientific community."

. —Patrice Talaga. (UCB S.A., Belgium).

"Open access journals are a novel concept in the medical literature. They offer accessible information to a wide variety of individuals, including physicians, medical students, clinical investigators, and the general public. They are an outstanding source of medical and scientific information."

. —Jeffrey M. Weinberg. (St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center, USA).

"Open access journals are extremely useful for graduate students, investigators and all other interested persons to read important scientific articles and subscribe scientific journals. Indeed, the research articles span a wide range of area and of high quality. This is specially a must for researchers belonging to institutions with limited library facility and funding to subscribe scientific journals."

. —Debomoy K. Lahiri. (Indiana University School of Medicine, USA).

"Open access journals represent a major break-through in publishing. They provide easy access to the latest research on a wide variety of issues. Relevant and timely articles are made available in a fraction of the time taken by more conventional publishers. Articles are of uniformly high quality and written by the world's leading authorities."

. —Robert Looney. (Naval Postgraduate School, USA).

"Open access journals have transformed the way scientific data is published and disseminated: particularly, whilst ensuring a high quality standard and transparency in the editorial process, they have increased the access to the scientific literature by those researchers that have limited library support or that are working on small budgets."

. —Richard Reithinger. (Westat, USA).

"Not only do open access journals greatly improve the access to high quality information for scientists in the developing world, it also provides extra exposure for our papers."

. —J. Ferwerda. (University of Oxford, UK).

"Open Access 'Chemistry' Journals allow the dissemination of knowledge at your finger tips without paying for the scientific content."

. —Sean L. Kitson. (Almac Sciences, Northern Ireland).

"In principle, all scientific journals should have open access, as should be science itself. Open access journals are very helpful for students, researchers and the general public including people from institutions which do not have library or cannot afford to subscribe scientific journals. The articles are high standard and cover a wide area."

. —Hubert Wolterbeek. (Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands).

"The widest possible diffusion of information is critical for the advancement of science. In this perspective, open access journals are instrumental in fostering researches and achievements."

. —Alessandro Laviano. (Sapienza - University of Rome, Italy).

"Open access journals are very useful for all scientists as they can have quick information in the different fields of science."

. —Philippe Hernigou. (Paris University, France).

"There are many scientists who can not afford the rather expensive subscriptions to scientific journals. Open access journals offer a good alternative for free access to good quality scientific information."

"Open access journals have become a fundamental tool for students, researchers, patients and the general public. Many people from institutions which do not have library or cannot afford to subscribe scientific journals benefit of them on a daily basis. The articles are among the best and cover most scientific areas."

. —M. Bendandi. (University Clinic of Navarre, Spain).

"These journals provide researchers with a platform for rapid, open access scientific communication. The articles are of high quality and broad scope."

. —Peter Chiba. (University of Vienna, Austria).

"Open access journals are probably one of the most important contributions to promote and diffuse science worldwide."

"Open access journals make up a new and rather revolutionary way to scientific publication. This option opens several quite interesting possibilities to disseminate openly and freely new knowledge and even to facilitate interpersonal communication among scientists."

. —Eduardo A. Castro. (INIFTA, Argentina).

"Open access journals are freely available online throughout the world, for you to read, download, copy, distribute, and use. The articles published in the open access journals are high quality and cover a wide range of fields."

. —Kenji Hashimoto. (Chiba University, Japan).

"Open Access journals offer an innovative and efficient way of publication for academics and professionals in a wide range of disciplines. The papers published are of high quality after rigorous peer review and they are Indexed in: major international databases. I read Open Access journals to keep abreast of the recent development in my field of study."

. —Daniel Shek. (Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong).

"It is a modern trend for publishers to establish open access journals. Researchers, faculty members, and students will be greatly benefited by the new journals of Bentham Science Publishers Ltd. in this category."